{"id":31604,"date":"2025-03-07T18:02:37","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T18:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/101gold\/david-bowies-young-americans-turns-50\/"},"modified":"2025-03-07T18:02:37","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T18:02:37","slug":"david-bowies-young-americans-turns-50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/101gold\/david-bowies-young-americans-turns-50\/","title":{"rendered":"David Bowie\u2019s ‘Young Americans’ turns 50"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Parlaphone Records\/Warner Music Group<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fifty\u00a0years ago Friday\u00a0David Bowie<\/strong> released his ninth studio album, Young Americans<\/em>, which was considered a departure from his glam-rock style, focusing more on funk, soul and R&B influences.<\/p>\n

The album, which came out\u00a0less than a year after 1974’s Diamond Dogs,<\/em> featured backing vocals by a then-unknown singer named Luther Vandross<\/strong>; its first single, the title track<\/strong><\/a>, peaked at #28 on the Billboard<\/em> Hot 100 chart.<\/p>\n

Its second single, \u201cFame<\/strong><\/a>,\u201d featured The<\/strong>\u00a0Beatles<\/strong>‘ John Lennon<\/strong>\u00a0on guitar and backing vocals, and became Bowie\u2019s first Hot 100 #1.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFame\u201d was actually one of two songs\u00a0on the album that featured contributions from\u00a0Lennon; the other was a cover of The Beatles track \u201cAcross the Universe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several months after the album’s release, Bowie\u00a0appeared on the music show Soul Train<\/em>, performing\u00a0\u201cFame\u201d and “Golden Years” from his next album,\u00a0Station to Station<\/em>. The appearance by Bowie\u00a0marked one of the first times a white\u00a0artist appeared on the R&B music show.<\/p>\n

Young Americans<\/em> turned out to be a breakthrough album for Bowie in the U.S. It debuted in the Billboard<\/em> 200’s top 10 in the U.S. and remained on the chart for 51 weeks. The song “Fame” was one of four Bowie songs to be included in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s list of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.<\/p>\n